carpetbagger, esq.

has anyone used the alton's angle line from shun? i have large hands, and after reading that the impetus for these was that his hands were hitting the cutting board with the regular/classic shun, these seem like these might be just the ticket. however, i haven't been able to find many reviews of them. what's the word, people?

that's the funniest thing i've read all day - and i've already checked out the secret diary of steve jobs today, so that's saying something.

you can always order grits online. the krogers around here (nashville) only stock the instant stuff too. three sources: hoppin' john's magnolia's of charleston,sc anson mills btw, did you get your grill and smoker yet?

if you've never had a real southern fried pie, i highly recommend getting one in your travels. also, in nashville, ham n' goody's is a popular place. here's the address for the nashville location: 2829 W End Ave Nashville, TN 37203 (615) 329-0193

dude, it's not like he's the fat black guy from the next food network star with moobs all over the place. wrt the results of the show, i think it's been pretty spot on. the chowder guy would have had a better chance if he had submitted the more traditional style chowder. bobby's chowder looked damn good...more so than that bahamian eel chowder. i'm glad the wedding cake girl won, although how lousy is it for her that everyone thought his tasted better...and he had never made a wedding cake before! the steak one was a toss-up, imho. still waiting to catch the bbq and pizza episodes.

i haven't been in about a decade...so the menu may have changed. it was originally billed as a cuban restaurant.

what do they think of mono loco?

i think she's perfect just the way she is.

a couple options: (1) the aloha state. (2) ww2 england (3) wherever the spam restaurant from the monty python skit was located! (4) manila - home to spamjam, a spam-dominated menu similar to (3)

sapient, add salt. enjoy. leaning over sink is optional.

bookmarked. have you been reading the mothership bbq blog?

fwiw, fellow eg member whifflechef serves (or served) a kk bread pudding at his restaurant, tayst.

so it's oprah meets ellen meets tony danza meets isaac. this sounds incredibly original, hopefully ending up like emeril's sitcom. afaik, fn has dropped her trainwreck "let me interview celebrities like morgan freeman and adam corolla" show. i think that's rather telling, as it is the closest anyone has seen to her interviewing people, and well, it wasn't pretty. oh well, it will be fun to watch the wheels fall off! picturing the first episode... "hi everyone *big waive* i'm rachel ray. today, i'll show you an unoriginal copycat of every other talk show, in just under 60 minutes. *hand motion left to right* i hope you all had a great weekend. since it's back to school time, i wanted to help out all you budding tv personalities who are currently in college and interning with a media company, because i was lost. hey, i was just a hojo fountain girl *snorting laughter* so, stay tuned for my eye rolling and hand gestures for dummies segment later on in the show. the fall means more than just back to school - it means football...and i'm so *over the top eye roll* excited to have tiki barber, a football player with the ny giants with us today to tell us all about his pre and post game rituals. i hear he has a killer hot dog paprikash buffalo wing sauce dish. *giggles* i don't know if we'll get to cooking, but i'm definitley going to challenge him to a situp contest. rock hard abs, baby! *punches stomach* so stay tuned, because after the break we're going to get things going with fashion design guru tim gunn, who is going to join me for some early morning cocktails - because i hear he loves the booze as much as i do - and dish on the latest project runway gossip and some of the must-have items for your fall wardrobe."

horseradish grill might work. check the amenities section - you'll see that the garden room has plenty of windows. another in town, although not so cocktail reception oriented, and probably windowless, would be the fogo de chao in buckhead. i would think that it would be a unique experience for a lot of the guests. you'd certainly get your fill of meat. if you could go way otp, the barnsley gardens and ruins would be sweet...but not really convenient. that 75 mile drive would really suck on the way back in to town (assuming everyone was staying itp).

there are a ton of online resources that you can check out. in addition to the ones listed above, check out raichlen's website and the bbq news forum.. from there, you can get plenty of help on equipment and techniques. if you're looking to pick up a book or two to have nearby at all times, raichlen's books (such as how to grill, the bbq bible and bbq usa) are all worthwhile additions. i've particularly found the bbq usa book to be incredibly valuable. as for equipment, that will be dictated in large part by budget. if you're going at it on the cheap, you can't beat the small weber kettle and an ecb (el cheapo brinkmann) water smoker combo. while i have the small 18" weber, and it would be fine for burgers and hot dogs for a family of five, i would definitely recommend moving up to the 22" model for the extra real estate. the basic (silver line) one is fine, you don't need to move up to the higher end that has the ash pan. i just use a pie plate to collect the ash. no point in spending 50 bucks or so to move up to the gold line, imho. fyi, the silver one touch webers are roughly $65 for the 18" and $80 for the 22". if you go gold, then the 22 is about $130. the ecb water smoker is a simple vertical/keg style smoker with 2 racks and can hold about 50lbs worth of food. you can get them for about $50 at lowe's. the only mod that you absolutely need to do to it is add a real thermometer. charbroil makes a replacement thermometer that is $10. it's too small to fit in the brinkmann thermometer hole, so just drill a 1/4" hole in the lid and push it in. works fine. i have pics if you need them. the combo listed above would only set you back about $130 and allow you to grill or smoke just about anything. the ecb can also be used as a grill, if you wind up needing more space. if you want to move up, pricewise, most people get (and love) the weber smoky mountain (wsm) smoker. it's about $250 and is considered the best lower priced smoker out there. one nice benefit of the wsm is that it has a better ventilation , system than the ecb. you can mod the ecb to have more vents, but with the wsm, you are good to go. the wsm will also hold a temp longer. the ecb's can be kinda tempermental when it comes to fire control. as for fuel, plain ol' kingsford works fine. while some people love lump, it can be tricky as it can run hot and not burn uniformly. definitely get a chimney. as for woods, places like wal mart and kroger will have wood chips and wood chunks - but probably will only carry hickory and mesquite. if you want pecan, peach or apple, you're going to have to go to a grill shop or find a farm that sells wood (or hit up lan4dawg). a source you may want to check out is bbq galore. they have an alpharetta store. you can get your 22" weber, ecb (or wsm), a chimney, some wood and a raichlen book or two all in one stop. i've heard there's also room to negotiate at bbq galore, so you might be able to work down the price a bit based on the size of your purchase. oh, one last thing...one event you might want to put on your calendar is the big pig jig in vienna. it's one of the more well known bbq events, and you can probably chat up someone and pick up a secret or two. good luck with it all. eta: i forgot to mention that there is also a rotisserie attachment available for the 22" weber.

the crushed/shaved ice is key! too bad most places just use the standard cubes.

hoss, i hate to say it, but whitt's, mrs.s winner's and loveless have some of the best sweet tea locally, if you were looking for ideas as to how sweet it should be. imho, the best is when you can pretty much just call it sugar water. the aforementioned places certainly take their sugar dial to 11! for non-traditional teas, the fruit tea at green hills grille and peach tea at sunset are damn good. will you be offering fruit tea at your restaurant? if so, the fruit tea recipe in the nashville junior league cookbook is a pretty good place to start. i'll ask my gf how she makes her tea, but i have a feeling her answer will be pretty much "by feel." i know she uses lipton family size tea bags and white sugar, but doesn't add lemon or let it sit in the sun.

for a second, i didn't think bryan ever ate anything normal. i'm glad he can enjoy something as simple as a bagel sammich.

wrong turns? did they send you to the one downtown? the one behind the shell on 29 has a pretty big sign iirc. i'd kill someone right now for a muffin from littlejohns, or a 4 cheese with turkey from littlejohns, or a chicken parm with onion rings from college inn, or a sandwich from belair. oh, breakfast at the tavern! god, it looks like i'll be killing a lot of people. i miss c'ville terribly. i hope to go back this fall, although i doubt i'll hit any of the high end places...too many cheap eats that bring back the memories.

hmmm... my legacy as of now includes the following: - a 40 page dining guide to nashville that i created for a friend who recently moved here - changing the main item served at my gf's family xmas eve dinner to my family's lasagna - the recipe for the xmas eve lasagna. - starting a 4th of july bbq tradition with my gf's family...see here in the behold my butt thread. - introducing people to the joy (and digestive terror) that is hot chicken. ideally, i'll have collected a substantial cookbook recipe in the coming decades, as well as continue to refine my bbq recipes and techniques, passing them on to the next generation.

how does the bbq at lang's compare to duck deli?

if you grew up in nj, wouldn't you leave as soon as humanly possible? seriously, if your parents can afford it, why not go out of state? outside of princeton, nj is pretty much an academic wasteland, and i think that's why you see so many nj kids at uva, duke, emory, etc.

not to rain on your parade, but this comes from the dook apartment/residence hall terms V. TERMS AFFECTING RIGHTS, ORDER, HEALTH AND SAFETY P. Selling or soliciting, to include the operation of a private enterprise, on the premises of University housing by residents or outsiders, that is either commercial or unrelated to University objectives or activities, is prohibited. and if you're living in a residence hall: V. TERMS AFFECTING RIGHTS, ORDER, HEALTH AND SAFETY O. Selling or soliciting, to include the operation of a private enterprise, in the residence halls, by residents or outsiders, which is either commercial or unrelated to University objectives or activities is prohibited. also, on your website, you have the "z kitchen is not" section twice. not only is it set up on its own, but it also looks like you hit paste accidentally in the "z kitchen is" section. since you're technically not allowed to have an enterprise like z.kitchen in your apt/dorm, one idea to get around it would be to set up a student group like "dookies as foodies", where you could have an official presence on campus. not only would you be able to hold dining events on campus (not just in your apt), but you could lobby for a budget. one possible benefit of the student org route is that with other members, you could move the location from place to place, offering different themes at each. i realize that reduces the amount of control you have over the enterprise, but you are limited by campus policy.

more on the wine list, potentially worth $2m here.

that was 15 lbs total for both of them - they put two in one bag and sealed them together.